


Midnight

by Missy



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Genre: F/M, Humor, Nightmares, Reading, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-14
Updated: 2012-10-14
Packaged: 2017-11-16 07:09:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/536831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle and Beast both have trouble sleeping after Best rescues Belle from a wolf attack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Cotton Candy Bingo, prompt: dark

She had grown quite used to many aspects of being the Beast’s captive. Her limited trips out into the bright, crisp morning sunlight, the fact that she must not touch nor taste the fruits forbidden to her by him. Even that she must always behave in accordance with their agreement and avoid striking him, a notion she normally thought ungentlewomanly but couldn’t not resist returning to, time and time again. 

It was the darkness she would never be able to acclimate herself to. The dark black hours of the nighttime where shadows would fill her room and the servants around her would sleep, leaving Belle to read by the light of her fire or drift hazily through the dreams that plagued her each and every evening.

Though Belle would never admit it, nightly the wolves who had attacked her so viciously skulked through her dreams, their vicious teeth snarling and gnashing as they tried to take a bite of Belle’s thrashing, bare ankles.

While she could be brave about these memories during her waking hours, at night they could not be denied, and no toddy Missus Potts could brew nor any tale she could read would dislodge them from her nightmares.

For the first time since her arrival at the chateau, Belle could not force herself to remain within the comfortable confines of her chamber, nor could she confine herself to the wintery calm of the garden. Instead, she traveled to the still-firelit parlor, where she found an enormous maroon easy chair and curled up against its silky belly. Still, she could not sleep, and reached toward the volume of fairy tales she had abandoned earlier in the evening. Halfway through the first tale, she floated off into a dreamless sleep.

Which was interrupted moments later by a loud harrumph.

Flailing awake, Belle clutched at the bodice of her gown, eyes wide with terror until she realized who her interloper was. “Beast?” she asked.

He clutched a candle awkwardly in his paw, frowning down at her. “Uh…I couldn’t sleep. Do you care if I sit down?”

“Oh no,” she smiled warmly. “Please do.”

He shambled into the room, pausing to hover over her. “You’re in my seat.”

Primly, Belle sat up. “I was here first.”

He growled. “My chair. Move.”

She lifted her chin primply. “All right. We can share it!”

“Share…” she got up and gestured toward the chair. Once he sat down, she promptly sat in his lap.

While Beast cringed in discomfort, Belle curled up against The Beast’s chest. His warmth soaked into her skin, filling her with a drowsy sense of security she hadn’t felt since she’d first entered his home. 

“Why are you up,” he asked.

“Hmmm?”

“Why are you awake?” 

She pulled back and glimpsed into his face. “That’s a good question. Why are you awake?” he frowned and grumbled something under his breath. “Uh-uh. Annunciate.”

“I don’t like the dark,” he admitted. 

She rubbed her face against his shoulder. “Oh.”

“You think it’s stupid, don’t you?”

She smiled into his skin. “Definitely not. Everyone’s scared of something.”

“Oh yeah?” he asked gruffly. “What’re you scared of?”

“Wolves,” she said without hesitation. “That’s the newest fear. But I’ve always been afraid of something, and almost everyone alive has. You shouldn’t feel bad just because you do.”

In silence, they drifted through the night, holding one another and sleeping the deepest sleep either had had in years, waiting for the world to bring the sun and its melting warmth back around again. 

THE END


End file.
